Florence Court, County Fermanagh.

MH * R1724

The curious example of Belfast pottery engraved on Fig.723is highly interesting as bearing the name of Belfast and the date 1724. It is a “choppine,” or lady’s high-heeled shoe, and is in Delft ware. It is six inches in length and the heel is two inches in height, and is decorated in blue and white, the flowers and foliage being blue on a white and white on a blue ground. On the sole are the initials M H R, M being the surname and H and R the Christian names of husband and wife, with the name and date in writing “Belfast, 1724,” as shown on theengraving. These are painted under the glaze in blue. For the notice of this interesting example, in the possession of a lady in Belfast, to whose grandmother it formerly belonged, I am indebted to Mr. Benn, the historian of that town.

Fig. 723.

Coates’ Pottery.—On an old map of Belfast, published in 1791, a building marked as “Coates’ Pottery” occurs. This, it is recorded by Mr. Pinkerton, was “set up by Mr. Victor Coates, at Lagan village, long before he established the well-known foundry at the same place. Red ware and a coarse kind of delft were made.”

China Works.—On the same map of Belfast, engraved in 1791, just referred to, occurs a building marked “China Manufactory,” close by “Coates’ Pottery,” “The partners in this Belfast china manufactory,” says Mr. Pinkerton, “were Thomas Gregg, Samuel Stephenson, and John Ashmore. That they carried on the manufacture of china there for some years is certain; for on January 29, 1793, the Earl of Hillsborough presented a petition from them to the Irish House of Commons. The original petition may be seen in the Journals of the House. In it the petitioners state that, recognising the great advantages arising from a manufacture of Queen’s Ware, and other fine kinds of ware such as are made in Staffordshire, they united themselves into a company for producing such wares in Ireland, and by their exertions had carried this manufacture to a greater perfection in the County of Down, near Belfast, than was ever known in this kingdom; that they had been at great expenses in erecting buildings, and importing machinery, and in bringing workmen from foreign places; that the differencein the prices of coal between Belfast and Staffordshire had greatly exceeded their expectations, and they now prayed for pecuniary aid. A committee, consisting of the Earl of Hillsborough, Mr. Johnson, and others, was immediately appointed by the House to report on the petition; and on the 2nd of February they reported that the petitioners had fully proved their allegations. The report was then ordered to be laid on the table; but it does not appear that anything was done further in the matter.

There is a manufactory at this place where common red ware is made. The products are chiefly flower-pots and the coarser kinds of domestic vessels.

At this manufactory only the coarser kinds of fire-clay and terra-cotta goods—chimney-pots, flower-pots, vases, &c., are produced.

There was a manufactory of brown ware, for pitchers and common goods, at this place. It was of old foundation.

Larne Pottery.—Pottery works were, I am informed by Mr. Patterson, built close to the small sea-port of Larne, county of Antrim, by James Agnew, Esq., the proprietor of the estate, and were worked under the management of his agent, Mr. Walker, from about 1850 to 1855, and afterwards for two or three years by the Greenock Pottery Company, since which time the works have been closed. The buildings still remain, but lie vacant. The goods produced were white and printed earthenware, cane ware, Rockingham tea-pots, and brown pans, crocks, and dairy and kitchen utensils of various kinds. Some of the latter named were made from local clays, and were very good of their kind. Their rubbish heaps are on the borders of Larne Lough, and the beach is strewed with fragments of pottery, the little triangular supports, saggars, &c.

At Castle Espie, near Comber, county of Down, Mr. Samuel Minland, J.P., some years ago, I am informed by Mr. Patterson, established brick and tile works. Common pottery is now manufactured there from the local red clay. The brown glazed ware consists of dairy vessels, tea-pots, flower vases, and other plain household articles.

Figs. 724 and 725.

Captain Beauclerc, at the exhibition of 1851, exhibited two terra-cotta vases, his own modelling, made in Ireland, of Irish material. They were engraved in the “Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue,” page 257, and are here reproduced, Figs.724 and 725. The productions were in two tints; the body of each vase being of a deep red, and the figures of a lighter and much yellower clay.

The village of Belleek, county Fermanagh, Ireland, is situated on the banks of the river Erne, near the borders of Donegal andFermanagh and on the outskirts of the Donegal highlands. It has a station on the Enniskillen and Bundoran line; which line communicates with Dublin, Belfast, and the various other lines of the kingdom. Belleek is within three miles of Ballyshannon; six of Bundoran; four of Lough Melvin, renowned for its salmon and trout fishery, and especially famous for theGillarootrout. It is also within short distances of Pettigo, Garrison, Devenish Island, with its monastic ruins and a perfect round tower, the beautiful park and grounds of Castle Caldwell, and many other objects of attraction.

Fig. 726.—The Belleek China Works.

The manufactory, a view of which is given on Fig.726, stands on a small island in a bend of the river Erne. Near the bridge is a large water-wheel, over 100-horse power, which gives motion to grinding-pans, lathes, turning-plates, and all the varied and skilfully designed apparatus of the works. “In the interior, the factory bears all the appearance of business and bustle. Enormous grinding-pans, in which the raw material is prepared for the hands of the artisan, rumble and roar, driven by the irresistible and constant power of the large water-wheel; the furnaces of the great ovens, in which the moulded clay is baked, roar by the draught caused bytheir great height; while in the workshops the lathes and turning plates whiz noiselessly round, as the soft, putty-like clay is being deftly moulded by the skilled workman into many beautiful designs.”

The works at Belleek were established in 1863 by the present proprietors, Messrs. David McBirney and Robert Williams Armstrong. Before the establishment of the works, trials were made with the felspar of the Irish locality with ordinary Cornish china clay, at the Royal Porcelain Works at Worcester. The results were so satisfactory that Mr. Armstrong, who at that time was architect to the proprietor, laid the project for forming a manufactory at Belleek before his friend, Mr. David McBirney of Dublin, a gentleman well known for his energy in aiding any movement to advance the prosperity of Ireland, and he embarked with him in the attempt to produce first-class ceramic goods in Ireland. The firm, composed of these two gentlemen, trade under the style of “D. McBirney & Co.” There are now employed at the Works about two hundred “hands,” among whom are several skilled artists; the Art director being the founder and proprietor, Mr. Armstrong.

The chief peculiarities of the ornamental goods produced at Belleek are, its lightness of body, its rich, delicate, cream-like, or ivory tint, and the glittering iridescence of its glaze. “Although the principal productions hitherto have been formed of this white ware—which either resembles the finest biscuit (of Buen Retiro or Dresden), or almost the ivory of the hippopotamus, or shines with a lustre like that of nacre—local clays have been found which yield jet, red, and cane-coloured wares. Facsimiles of sea shells, and of branches of coral, which might well be supposed to be natural, are among the principal features. The iridescent effect produced is somewhat similar to that of the ruby lustre of the famous Gubbio Majolica; that Italian enamelled ware which commands such fabulous prices, and of which an unrivalled collection is to be seen at the South Kensington Museum. Lustres were introduced many years ago for English pottery by Hancock, by Gardner, and by Stennys; and in the booths of our country fairs, rude inartistic forms, glowing with a gold or a silver lustre, are often to be seen. The effect of a good lustre may be compared to that of “shot silk,” or to the changing hues that adorn the neck of a black or dark blue pigeon, or the crested pride of a drake. Oil of turpentine, flour of sulphur, gold solution, and tin solution, constitute the gold glaze,the purple hue being due to the tin. Platinum, and spirits of tar enter, with oxide of zinc, into the composition of the silver lustre. But neither of these glazes, any more than the Italian enamel of which the secret was lost so long ago as the sixteenth century, can compare with the beauty of the Belleek ware, an idea of which can only be given by recalling the beautiful hues of a highly-polished mother-of-pearl shell. We can convey no idea of it by engravings; and it seems equally difficult to do so by written description. We may apply to it the common-place expression: ‘It must be seen to be admired;’ and certainly it must be examined to be estimated. We can, however, with some degree of accuracy, represent some of the forms produced by this manufactory.”[70]Fig.727is the grounds-basin of a tea-service, made for the Queen (Her Majesty being one of the early patrons of the Belleek Pottery), and presented by her to the present Empress of Germany. The basis of the design is theechinusor sea-urchin, which abounds on the coast of Donegal, and has, both the native and rarer foreign species, been utilised by the firm in many of their productions. In this instance it forms the bowl, and the supports are branches of coral.

Fig 727.—Grounds-Basin: for the Queen’s Service.

Fig. 728.

Figs. 729 to 731.

Besides the “Royal” services—breakfast, dessert, and tea—madefor her Majesty, other services have been made for H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and others of the royal family. From the Prince of Wales’s services the engravings, Figs.732 to 735are selected.

Fig. 732.—Ice-Pail: for the Prince of Wales.

Fig.732is the ice-pail. The base is formed of three exquisitely modelled mermaids, in Parian, who support the shell-formed base of the vase, around which a group of Tritons and dolphins in high relief are sporting in the water, with an effective background of aquatic plants. A wreath of coral surrounds the rim. The effect of the charming contrast between the dead and the iridescent surfaces is heightened by gilding the conches of the revellers. The cover or lid is as it were the boiling surging sea, from which threesea-horses have partially risen, and in the centre a Triton, riding on a dolphin, forms the handle.

Fig. 733.—Compotier: for the Prince of Wales.

Fig.733is a compotier, whose base represents the surface of the sea, upon which float threecardiumshells. From between these spring up three small sea-horses, not, indeed, thehippocampiof the naturalist, but those of the mythologist, the figures which, in antique gems and in Italian paintings, are intended to serve as the artistic embodiment of the roll and the dash of the breaker. A trumpet-shell forms the central column, which, in its turn, supports the shell that serves as a fruit-dish.

The tall centre-piece (Fig.734) is designed on a more ambitious scale. A triton or merman is blowing a conch; a mermaid is wringing and dressing her redundant locks; and a sea-horse dashes through the spray. Between these figures, which thus divide the base into three compartments, are placed three shells of the specieshippopus maculata, which form convenient receptacles for bonbons, candied fruit, or other smaller delicacies of the dessert-table. A trumpet-shell is again selected to form the main stem, which is surrounded with aquatic plants; and threepaludinashells are sointroduced as to form suitable vases for sprays of flowers. The shell-dish, with its beautiful markings and projections, again forms the cap of the tazza.

Fig. 734.—Centre-piece: for the Prince of Wales.

The low compotier (Fig.735) are modelleden suite; the idea of the entire service being that of the combination of natural objects, selected for their appropriate shape, and for their beauty of form or of sculpture, with imaginary forms. The shells which are modelled for the dishes are supported by conventional dolphins.

The tazza vase and pedestal (Fig.736), on which hangs a wreath of flowers, dependent from rams’ heads, is a fine specimen of Irish art.

Our next engraving (Fig.737) is a flower-stand composed of shells supported by dolphins, and is so iridescent as to have almost an unearthly appearance of liquid beauty.

Fig. 735.—Low Compotier: for the Prince of Wales.

“The reproduction of natural forms by Ceramic Art,” says theArt Journal, “is not by any means a novelty. We are familiar with the fish, the reptiles, and the crustacea of Bernard Palissy, with the relieved and coloured foliage of Luca and of Andrea della Robbia. In England we have seen the shells reproduced by the artists of the Plymouth china, and the delicate leaves and flowers of the old Derby ware. The designer of much of the Belleek ware has the merit, so far as we are aware, of being the first artist who has had recourse to the large sub-kingdom of theradiatafor his types. The animals that constitute this vast natural group are, for the most part, characterized by a star-shaped or wheel-shaped symmetry; and present a nearer approach to the verticillate structure of plants, than to the bilateral balance of free locomotive animals. For, at all events a portion of their existence, indeed, most of theradiataare fixed to the earth. The five-fold radiation, which is most common among dicotyledonous plants, is the usual division assumed by these zoophytic creatures. From the globular shape of the commonestechinus, or sea-urchin, through the flattened and depressed form of others of the family, the transition is regular and gradual, to the well-known five-fingered star-fish, and to those wonderfully branched and foliated forms which shatter themselves into a thousand fragments when they are brought up by the dredge from deep water and exposed for a moment to the air. Under the name offrutti di mare, these sea-eggs, covered as they are withinnumerable pink and white spines, form a favourite portion of the diet of the southern Italians. When the spines, by which the creature moves, are stripped off, the projections and depressions of thetesta, or shell, are often marked by great beauty of pattern; and it would have been hardly possible to bring into the service of plastic art a more appropriate group of natural models. Again, in the fantastic and graceful forms of the mermaid, the nereid, the dolphin, and the sea-horse, the Belleek art-designer has attained great excellence of ideality; the graceful modelling is set off, with the happiest effect, by the contrast between the dead, Parian-like surface of the unglazed china, and the sparkling iridescence of the ivory-glazed ground.”

Fig. 736.—Flower Tazza and Pedestal.

The productions of the Belleek works comprise all the usual services—dinner, breakfast, tea, dessert, and toilet—in large variety of patterns and of various styles of decoration, and in addition to these a vast variety of ornamental goods are produced. Figures and groups of figures, animals, &c., are also made, and are characterized by excellent modelling and judicious colouring—the peculiar Belleekglaze imparting to them a beauty all their own. Boudoir candlesticks and other choice examples of art also evidence considerable skill on the part of the artists in the modelling of the flowers and foliage and in the arrangement of the wreaths.

Among the choicest examples of actual manipulative skill produced by any manufactory are some cabinet cups and saucers, the extreme delicacy of which far surpasses the ordinary “egg-shell” china. The cup itself is theechinus, and the saucer is also tastefully modelled from the same; the body is so thin, and worked to such a degree of nicety, as to be of little more than the thickness of common writing paper. This delicate body, either plain, or tinted and gilt and then glazed with the iridescent glaze so characteristic of the Belleek ware, is unique in its appearance and matchless in its extreme delicacy. Of the same filmy bodycardiumand other shells are also produced, and are exquisitely tinted.

Fig. 737.—Boudoir Flower Shells.

Besides the speciality of these works (the “Belleek China”) Messrs. McBirney and Armstrong manufacture to a large extent white granite ware services of every variety, and of excellent quality both in body, in glaze, and in printed, painted, enamelled, and gilt decorations. Many of the patterns are of more than average excellence, and in every respect the Irish earthenware equals the ordinary commercial classes of Staffordshire wares. The dinner-ware isespecially serviceable, being a true felspathic body, semi-vitrified, and hence ranking next to the true porcelain; smooth and admirably potted. The simple ornamentation to which it has been subjected is pure in style and Art, while the article competes as to price with inferior ware in the markets of England and America. Indeed the trade with America is already large, and is regularly increasing.

Parian and ordinary white china, as well as ivory body, are also largely made in a vast variety of styles.

Not only in these home essentials is its place established; Belleek furnishes largely the “porcelain insulators” (containing 70 per cent. local felspar) used for telegraph poles, and these have been pronounced by “authorities” the best. In pestles and mortars the factory has considerable trade, and of the minor articles of patch-boxes, &c., there is enormous produce. For supremacy in these objects it is indebted to the purity of the clay and felspar, producing a clear brilliant white, and singular “compactness,” resulting in remarkable hardness and durability. In sanitary ware, cabinet-stands, plug-basins, and other articles, form a staple part of the trade of these works.

The marks used by the Belleek Company are the following:

BELLEEK CO. FERMANAGH.

Figs. 738 and 739.]

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